Shoe horn



Nov. 12, 1968 J. A. CARLOS 3,410,463

SHOE HORN Filed May 12, 1966 United States Patent O 3,410,463 SHOE HORNJames A. Carlos, 5801 Streefkerk, Apt. D27, Warren, Mich. 48092 FiledMay 12, 1966, Ser. No. 549,592 3 Claims. (Cl. 223-119) ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE A shoe horn for invalids who have difiiculty reaching theirfeet. An elongated handle has a pair of spaced uninterrupted inner andouter coverging portions so shaped and dimensioned as to receive a shoeheel stay and firmly grip it at its sides.

An important object of the present invention is to provide an improvedshoe horn adapted to assist invalids and others who have difficultyreaching their feet to putlon, remove and, in general, manipulate shoes,slippers and the like.

Additional objects of this invention are to provide an improved shoehorn of the above character which is adapted for use with a variety ofsized shoes, has no moving parts, requires the use of only one hand,holds the shoe securely without damaging it and which is easilyreleasable therefrom.

Further objects include the provision of an improved shoe horn of theabove character which is relatively inexpensive to manufacture, ruggedin construction and attractive in appearance.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become moreapparent from a consideration of the following detailed descriptiontaken in conjunction with the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of a shoe horn embodying the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a side view of FIG. 1 looking in the direction of the arrow 2;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of FIG. 1 taken along the line 3-3 thereof;and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of FIG. 1 taken along the line 4-4 thereofQBroadly described, the present invention is a shoe horn comprising anelongated handle, a bifurcated working end connected to said handle,said working end including spaced, uninterrupted, concavecross-sectional portions fixed to each other and to said handle adjacentone end of said portions, said working end portions having side edgesadapted to receive and grip a shoe heel stay portion therebetween.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, a shoe horn embodyingthe present invention is shown generally at 11 in FIG. 1 and is seen toinclude an elongated handle 13 having a bifurcated working end 15integral therewith or otherwise suitably fixed thereto. As shown, thehandle 13 comprises a shaft 17 having a handle grip .19 fixed thereto,the shaft and handle together having a length sufficient to permit oneholding the handle to reach his feet with the working end 15 withouthaving to bend over excessively. The grip 19 is contoured to comfortablyfit in ones hand and may have an opening 21 therethrough so that theshoe horn 11 may conveniently be hung on a nail, hook or the like.

The bifurcated working end 15 comprises continuous or uninterruptedportions or tool members 23, 25 joined together at 26 adjacent theirupper ends and which ends are integral with or otherwise suitably fixedto the handle shaft 17. The tool members 23, 25 are trough-like orconcave in cross-section and function both to grip a heel stay portionof a shoe to assist in putting on ones 3,410,463 Patented Nov. 12, 1968shoe or taking it off as well as to ease ones heel into the shoe in theusual manner of a conventional shoe horn.

Thus, the tool member 23 is shaped generally like a conventional shoehorn, being smooth, continuous and uninterrupted, and is adapted in theuse of the shoe horn 11, to be received inside a heel stay portion 27 ofa shoe 29 shown by dot-dash lines in FIGS. 3 and 4. If desired, the toolmember 23 may have its lower end contoured or cut back as at 31 to avoidrubbing or catching on the heel of the user during use. The tool member25 is received outside the heel stay portion 27 and cooperates with thetool member 23 to grip the heel stay without damaging it so that theuser can put his shoes on, take them off and, in general, manipulatethem simply by manipulating the handle 13.

More particularly, the tool members 23, 25- converge from their lowerends toward their upper ends at area 26 where they connect with thehandle shaft 17 and together, the tool members define a wedge-likeopening 28 (FIG. 4). Also, the tool members 23, 25 converge from theirmiddle toward their outer or side edges 30, 32, respectively, (FIG. 3)by being formed on substantially the same radius but being offset fromeach other as shown. This radius is selected preferably substantiallyequal to the radius of a heel stay on an average sized shoe.

The side edges 30, 32 of the tool members 23, 25 are spaced apart attheir lower ends a distance somewhat greater than the thickness of theheel stay 27 and converge toward their upper ends so that near the area26, they are spaced somewhat less than the heel stay thickness. Thus, asthe shoe horn working end 15 is moved down on the heel stay 27, theconverging relation of the tool members 23, 25 causes the stay 27 to begently wedged between and gripped by the tool members at their sideedges 30, 32. In doing so, the outer or side edges 30, 32 of the toolmembers 23, 25, respectively, gradually move into gripping contact withthe sides of the heel stay 27 as best seen in FIG. 3, while theremainder of the tool members 23, 25 remains spaced from stay 27 as seenin FIG. 4.

As the shoe horn working end 15 is moved into the position on a shoeheel stay 27 shown in FIGS 3 and 4. the tool member 23, and particularlythe portions thereof adjacent the side edges 30, solidly backs the sideof the heel stay 27 and effectively prevents the tool member 25 andparticularly its side edges 32 from damaging or weakening the heel stay27. Also, should the tool member 25 for any reason contact there-arwardmost portion of the heel stay 27, it will be appreciated thatthe tool member area of the heel stay 27 in this area is smooth anduninterrupted and this portion of the heel stay is the strongest partthereof and no damage or weakening will occur here.

In larger sized shoes, the heel stay 27 has a larger radius than that ofthe tool members 23, 25 so that the heel stay 27 is deflected slightlyinwardly by the tool member 25. Conversely, in smaller sized shoes, thetool member 23 deflects the heel stay 27 outwardly. However, the radiusof heel stays for different sized shoes varies little and by forming thetool members 23, 25 on a radius substantially equal to the radius of anaverage shoe stay, excellent results have been achieved on a very widerange of shoe sizes and shapes. The small amount of heel stay deflectionoccurring in the very small or very large sizes doe not damage or weakenthe shoe, especially with the solid backing afforded by the tool member23 adjacent its outer edges 30 as described above. Furthermore, and ofgreat importance is the fact that there are no levers, links or othermoving parts in this shoe horn 11 which would require greater skilland/or strength on the part of the user and which might cause damage toa shoe. Since there are no moving handles or levers to operate, the userneeds only one hand to fully manipulate the shoe horn 11 and put on hisshoes or take them off, as desired. Of course, the long handle 13 makesit possible for one using the shoe horn 11 of the present invention toput on his shoes or take them 01f without having to bend overexcessively.

By the foregoing, there has been disclosed an improved shoe horncalculated to fulfill the inventive objects set forth and while apreferred form of the present invention has been illustrated anddescribed in detail, various additions, substitutions, modifications andomissions may be made thereto without departing from the spirit of theinvention as encompassed by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A shoe horn comprising an elongated handle, a bifurcated working endconnected to said handle, said Working end including spaceduninterrupted, concave in cross-section inner and outer portions fixedto each other and to said handle adjacent one end of said portions withthe concavity of each of said portions facing in the same direction, thesurfaces of said working end portions converge from a mid-portion towardthe sides edges thereof, said outer portion being wider than said innerportion with the same side edges of each of said portions convergingtoward the handle o that the side edges thereof will receive and gripthe sides of a shoe heel stay therebetween when the inner portion isdisposed within the stay.

2. A shoe horn as defined in claim 1 wherein the surfaces of saidworking end portions converge toward said handle.

3. A shoe horn as defined in claim 2 wherein the surfaces of saidworking end portions converge from a mid-portion toward the side edgesthereof.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 655,417 8/1900 Randall 2231191,163,399 12/1915 Fox 223-118 2,939,618 6/1960 Mangels 223-118 FOREIGNPATENTS 226,028 7/ 1909 Germany.

JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner.

G. KRIZMANICH, Assistant Examiner.

